Since March 2010, Tunes Rehearsal Studio has operated as a practice room area for bands. They’ve successfully assisted major players in the industry. Amongst others: Karen Zoid and Valiant Swart…

As fully fledged musicians themselves, the Tunes personnel, Jean Marais and Hartwig Holtzhausen, feel an urge to empower Stellenbosch and the music scene beyond. They’ve been winners in developing and promoting young guns as well.

January 2011, saw Tunes Rehearsal Studio developing into a more complex organization, offering music lessons, including drums and electronic music production and helping with demo recordings and workshops for musicians. Tunes’ promo includes organizing performances, exposing bands and networking, with posters, flyers, newspapers, radio and the like.

The music rehearsal studio is professionally equipped and open for bookings, seven days a week from as early as 8 in the morning, till midnight. Costs for bookings are R40 per hour during office-hours (08h00–17h00) and R50 per hour, afterhours (17h00-00h00).

Their tuck shop and musicians’ storage facility, should be very welcome to those experienced enough to know the practice process. Musicians are, very conveniently, allowed to promote themselves and their gigs in the rehearsal studio itself.

If you’re interested in liaising with them, contact Jean Marais at dirtmarais@gmail.com or 082 770 4798.

Tunes fee structures and services

Music Rehearsals
R40 per hour,  work hours (08h00 – 17h00)
R50 per hour, after hours (17h00 – 24h00) and on weekends
R60 per hour after midnight

The practice room is 20 square metres and is equipped with a 12 channel 1 000 watt powered mixer and 2x 150 watt speakers.  A 4 piece Mapex drum kit, with 5 cymbal stands, a hi-hat, snare stand and throne is supplied.  The room has 2 microphones on stands, a music stand and 2 guitar stands.  A Laney guitar amp and a Peavey bass amp are available for renting at R10 per hour per amplifier (Only for use at Tunes Studio).  Instruments and other music related equipment can be stored at Tunes at R5 per item per day.  The studio has an alarm system and
armed response.

Drummers
Drum lessons for beginners and intermediate level are available at R100 per lesson. Drummers whom would like to practise on their own are welcome to make bookings at R30 per hour.  Please note that this special only counts on week days from 08h00 – 14h00.  Drummers can book time to practise on their own at other (than the above stated) hours, but the full practice facility hiring rates will be charged. Drummers can rent a snare drum or kick pedal at R50 per item. Drum lessons are presented by Jean Marais, formally from the rock group Antipathy.  He has eleven years live and studio experience.  See a demonstration video on Tunes’ Facebook group.

Demo recordings
R600 per day (including mixing and mastering). Recording is executed by Jean (assistant) and Hartwig (head engineer).

Electronic music lessons (music production and sound engineer tutoring) – R60 per hour
This is hosted by Hartwig Holtzhausen, an electronic music composer and qualified sound engineer with seven years experience.

Sound equipment and music for private functions and birthday parties – R1 000 per evening.
A 1 000 watt p.a., four speakers and a DJ that will play the music of your choice will be provided.

Musical instrument accessories
Tunes retail guitar and bass guitar strings, instrument cables and tuners, plectrums and drum sticks.  We can order any other musical equipment, which are in stock at Paul Bothner.  Tunes guarantee lower prices than the local competition.  Feel free to contact Tunes via e-mail, Facebook or cell phone in order to buy stocked accessories or to place orders. Please note that the Studio is only open in times of bookings.

The fast expanding music industry in the Western Cape requires a well equipped space where new and established artists can rehearse and record their practise sessions with technical support available.

This is what Salty Dogs Studios offer at more than affordable rates usually associated with facilities like these.

The recently opened and newly renovated premises in Albert Road, Salt River, which fringes on the developing creative hub of Cape Town, boasts four top class soundproofed and fully equipped studios – two large and two small. The air conditioned and fresh air supply to all studios ensure an enjoyable and creative environment where artists can practise the challenging art of making music without any hassles. Try www.saltydogs.co.za

Guitar Setup

The setup of a guitar is crucial to getting a good recorded sound. The sensitive condenser mics usually used will pick up any flaw and amplify it, so the better the guitar sounds acoustically, the better it will sound recorded. Make sure the guitar is properly set up with no fret buzz or tuning issues. Any problems of this nature, get it professionally sorted out.

But first and foremost: use new strings. Old strings are duller sounding and also prone to tuning and intonation problems. New strings should have a 24-hour “break-in” period before recording, as this will let them settle tuning-wise and mellow some of the extreme high end which can make the sound too brittle. Some modern brands of strings are polymer coated and sound a few hours old immediately and keep that “new string sound” for a lot longer. Always keep some String Glide or similar product nearby for those times when “string squeak” is an issue. Dusting fingers with talcum powder will help in a pinch too.

Mics & Pickups

There are rules set in stone, but a condenser mic will almost always give a better recorded sound than a dynamic mic.The extra sensitivity and extended frequency range of a condenser mic captures the quieter elements and subtle high-frequency detail of the sound. Many engineers will opt for a small diaphragm condenser. A large diaphragm mic may also be used, but will lose a little of the finer detail of the sound. Recommended mics: Rode NT5, Oktava MC012, AKG C1000, Neumann KM 184.

Piezo pickup systems are a godsend for playing live, as they give an acoustic sound with little chance of feedback, but they are not as natural sounding as a microphone. Having said that, there are some times when you want an unnatural sound or even a blend of mic and pickup. If a guitar has a pickup, I will usually record it at the same time as the miced sound (making sure it is recorded to another track!), and then decide during mixdown how much (if any) piezo signal I want blended in. I’d rather havi it and not need it… One thing with this technique: you will get phase cancellations between mic and pickup, so experiment with moving the mic closer and farther from the guitar until you get a good combined sound.

Mic Techniques

Getting the sound you want by choosing the correct microphone and mic placement will produce far better results than EQing an unsuitable tone.

An acoustic guitar produces some of it’s sound from the neck, the entire length of the strings and even the back and sides of the box, so the mic needs to be a little distance (30 – 50cm) away to capture this accurately. It is tempting to put the mic closer to the guitar to get a better signal level, but don’t – this will make the sound boomy. Similarly, If you point the mic directly into the sound hole, it will pick up too much of the sound coming from the hole and be much too full sounding.

One mic placement trick is to use your ear as if it were the mic – get down on your knees and move your ear around. You should find “sweet spots” where the sound is better.

Single mic placement

Single mic

Place the mic about 30 – 50cm from the guitar’s sound hole, and angle it toward the area where the neck joins the body. Move it towards the body for a warmer sound and moving it towards the neck will produce a brighter sound. Also experiment with moving the mic upwards, so it looks down on the guitar or downwards, looking up.

Stereo Mics

If you are recording solo guitar or small acoustic-based ensembles, you may want to record in stereo to enhance the depth and reality of the recording. When using two mics, bear in mind the “3-to-1 rule” – the distance between two mics should be at least three times the distance between each mic and the sound source (there is one exception – the X – Y technique mentioned later). This keeps phase cancellations to a minimum, resulting in a smoother sound that also translates well to mono. So, if the mics are 30cm from the guitar, make sure they are at least 90cm apart from each other.

Spaced pair

Spaced Pair

Two mics are placed apart from each other at the same approximate height, one pointing at the 12th fret of the guitar and the other at the bridge. If you’re not getting the sound you want with a spaced pair placement, try moving one or both microphones slightly to improve the timbre. Because spaced pair placement is subject to phase interference, moving one mic only an inch or two can dramatically change the sound.

Spaced pair variation

Spaced Pair Variation

As in the setup above, one mic points to the 12th fret. The second mic is hung from a mic stand at the performer’s ear level, pointing down at either the bridge or at the strings just behind the soundhole. So if the performer is right-handed, this second mic would be placed over the right shoulder. You can also move this ear-level mic slightly out in front of the player and angle it back towards the guitar (versus pointing straight down at the floor), for a brighter sound. This technique usually yields a more open – but thinner – sound than the simple spaced pair on a horizontal plane.

X-Y, or coincident-pair

X-Y coincident pair

X-Y, or coincident-pair, is the easiest approach to stereo miking. If you are willing to move the mics around a bit to find the sweet spot, you’ll find it’s hard to make a bad recording. X-Y miking produces a much narrower stereo image than the spaced-pair techniques. But it lends a smoother, warmer, and more natural sound to acoustic guitar. Place the two mics close together so that their capsules are almost touching. The rear ends of each mic are spread apart at an angle of a roughly 90 to 120 degrees. The result looks like a wide V shape, with one mic’s capsule positioned directly above the other. The 3-to-1 rule doesn’t apply to the X-Y technique because the two capsules are so close that sound waves arrive at both at essentially the same time, minimizing objectionable phase cancellations.

To start, try placing the two mics opposite the 12th fret of the guitar. If you have a really nice sounding room to record in, try backing the mics up to a distance of one to two feet from the guitar. This will capture more room tone and yield a more natural sound. While the best-sounding position can depend upon the guitar, the room, or the mics, typically, placing the mics around seven inches in front of the guitar’s 12th fret will tend to de-emphasize midrange frequencies. That’s because one mic will be pointing in the direction of the bassy soundhole, and the other towards the top of the neck, an area rich in high frequencies.

Processing

Compression

Use a compressor/limiter to knock down any peaks (3:1 ratio).Set the threshold a little low to give it a slightly “squashed” or tighter sound. Set the threshold higher to just limit the peaks and give a more natural, open sound.

Equalisation

You may need to eq out some boominess. If so, try rolling off some bottom (100Hz), or cutting a couple of db at 300Hz. Adding a little eq around the mids (700Hz to 1.2KHz) will give you a sound that is a little more “woody”. To add some shimmer on the top end, try 8-10K, but be careful, too much will add noise. There is often one loud annoying frequency, somewhere in the lower mids, you will need to use a sweepable midrange to find it and cut it.

An electric guitar is capable of a wide range of sounds and is unique in that the amplifier and the speakers are as much a part of the sound as the instrument itself. This means that to record the “true” sound of the electric guitar, you

Amp Modelling v. Miking

Amp modelling effects such as The line 6 PODs, Boss GT series of multieffects or Native Instruments Guitar Rig software can offer a quick and easy way to record an electric guitar with decent tone and offer a range of amp tones to choose from. However many players are more comfortable with a real amplifier and will give their best performance when using one. There is nothing quite like the visceral pleasure of playing through a loud valve amplifier.

First & Foremost

The single most important detail in getting great electric guitar sounds is that the sound coming out of the amp should be great. This is determined by the guitar, amp & speakers and the person playing it. It is much easier to get a good recorded sound if the guitar/amp setup is a good sounding one and making sure that the guitar sounds good first can save you a lot of time later. So make sure the guitar is free from buzzes and rattles, the strings are relatively new and the intonation is set properly. See some of the guitar maintenance articles on this site, or take the instrument to a luthier for a professional setup. Also make sure the amplifier is in a good state of repair. Valve amplifiers also need to be maintained, with new valves every few years and more extensive overhauls every fifteen years or so. Any problems with noisy pots or jacks should be sorted out before you go into the studio.

Miking

It is important to remember the point made above: the amp and speakers are part of the instrument and should be treated as such. Open backed guitar cabinets emit sound from both the front and the rear of the cabinet, and you must often capture both to reproduce the real sound of the amp. The key to getting a great guitar sound is to constantly experiment, trying lots of things until you get the sound that is most pleasing to your ears.

Usually a guitar amp is miked close up with the mic up against the grille of the amp the way you do on stage – this is the quickest way to capture a dry isolated sound that will It also pays to add in an ambient mic a short distance away from the amp and finally with a room mic a few metres away. This gives you a range of sounds to play with. In the smaller home studio, or those with an unflattering room sound, you may want to omit using the room mic. If you are going to use a room mic, take time to find a spot in the room where the amp sounds good and a spot distant from the amp which sounds good. Use those sophisticated measuring instruments of yours (your ears) and walk around the room listening for “sweet spots” where the amp sounds good – you’ll know them when you find them. Try different mics, try moving them closer and farther, try different angles, try putting the amp in a corner, try putting the amp on a concrete floor, try it on a wood floor, try it on a floor with carpeting – basically just try everything you can think of!

Close mic: The close mic gives a dry, punchy, detailed sound. Usually a dynamic mic such as a Shure SM57 or a Sennheiser MD421 is used as the close mic as dynamics can handle the volume levels and have enough frequency range to cope with the limited response of an electric guitar. Set up the mic right against the amp’s grill cloth, pointing it straight at the amp will give a clearer, more detailed sound, but with more highs and a harsher edge. Angling the mic slightly will soften the tone at the expense of a little detail and highs, and moving the mic towards the edge of the speaker will result in a mellower sound, as will moving the mic away from the cloth slightly.

Close miking multi-speaker cabinets - Speakers vary a little, so if the amp has a multi-speaker guitar cabinet, listen to each to see which has the better sound and close mic that one. Usually there is nothing to gain by miking more than one speaker, unless the cabinet has different speaker models which each contribute something different to the tone – then you should mic both.

Ambient mic: A mic placed a few inches to a few feet back can fill out the sound and create interesting tonalities. Just be careful of the delay (approximately 1ms per foot or 3ms per metre) which causes phasing – cancelling certain frequencies when mixed with another mic, which can be pleasing or horrible, depending on the frequencies cancelled. So experimenting with distances is very important. If you are recording to a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), it is possible to sidestep any phasing issues while keeping the ambient mic’s tonality by dragging the recorded track into alignment with the other mic tracks.

Room Mic: For the room mic, place a condenser mic anywhere from half a metre to two metres in front of the amp (at the same height as the amp) and point the mic at one of the speakers. The further the mic is from the amp, the more bass and less midrange it will have. More room sound will be picked up – making the sound bigger.

If you have enough tracks on your recorder, print each mic to a separate track (if possible) to be able to decide the balance between them later, otherwise mix them to the desired balance when recording to a single track – just be careful not too add in too much room mic.

Processing

Compression

Use compression on the close mic. Set the compressor at a 3:1 ratio and adjust the threshold so that the compressor is usually working, but not squashing the signal too much.

Equalisation

The Electric guitar is not a natural instrument, so the only EQ rule is: Get the sound you want! Adding 100Hz – 250Hz will give you more bottom, rolling off 300Hz – 500Hz will eliminate some of the nasal quality, adding a touch of 700Hz will create a throaty or woody sound, adding a pinch of 1K will give the guitar more edge, adding 3K will give the guitar more bite, and adding 5, 8, or 10K will make it brighter.

Doubling Guitar Parts

Doubling a rhythm guitar and panning the two tracks hard left and right can make the guitars sound huge. But consider what works best for the song. Is the rhythm guitar the featured instrument, or will there be several other guitars competing for space in the stereo spread? Sometimes less is more.

If you do decide to double the guitar, think about altering the sound on the double track to give you more thickness. You can change guitars and keep the amp the same, or vice versa. Change pickup settings if using the same guitar on the second track. EQ the two tracks differently (scoop mids out from one and boost the bass and treble, and do the inverse for the second guitar). Make sure the performance is really tight though, matching the first track’s phrasing. Otherwise you might end up with a cluttered mix that would be better off with only one track of guitar.

Mixing

Start with the close mic – this should comprise the bulk of your guitar sound. If it sounds good as it is, stop and don’t add any room or ambient mic – just because you have the extra mic tracks, doesn’t mean you have to use them (but rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them). For a slightly more distant, but fuller sound, bring up the fader on the ambient or room mics. Slowly add those signals to the close sound. You’ll have the detail of the close mic, but with the fullness that comes with adding some “room” sound to it.

You don’t need to mix the guitar much louder than the other instruments or with more distortion to make it sound big. It’s all about how well you record it to begin with. If you’ve done that right you’ll be in great shape for the mix.